Reflections About 13th Annual Sproo-Doo by Ken Childres, President of CASM

I want to take a moment to personally thank everyone that participated in the Sproo Doo 2013 show. Today (Sunday) Bri and I spent most of the day hanging out with John Struck from John's Models and we got a chance to discuss the show with him. He was quite happy with the show and made point of how smoothly it was run. Yesterday at the show I got a chance to talk to Sean Glaspell (our IPMS Regional Coordinator) at length. He was also very complimentary and impressed at how well the show was run. 

There were modelers from Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma and one fella straight out of New York that had just moved to Arkansas and was looking for other modelers to connect with. I had an opportunity to talk to many of these folks and all of them had a great time! The vendors I spoke with (or heard from others) were happy as well. Several of our very new club members made it out to the contest and seemed to really enjoy themselves as well. 

I have seen photos crop up on facebook from some out of town folks posting photos of their models with the awards they got. This really shows CASM in a good light. For one, our quality of awards is excellent and two, many of our top special awards again went to out of town modelers. I'm very proud that our judging is fair and without home club bias. 

This show ran like a well oiled machine with no problems what so ever! Credit goes to the very hard working Show Committee (Bri, Cliff, Daris, Ray, Rusty and Ron). There were certainly a lot of other people that helped as well when called on. I am very proud of the all out effort of the club as a whole and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. A lot of you showed up to help set up on Friday and help tear down on Saturday evening. 

All in all, there were 138 models entered by 36 modelers. Those numbers are up slightly from last year. While I am thrilled at the turnout I don't tend to get wrapped around the numbers because that isn't the only gauge of a successful show. 

A special congrats to Cliff Bullock for earning the 2013 CASM Member of the Year award. He certainly deserved it! 

Again, Thanks to every single person that came to the show. I really appreciate it.